Checking In

Checking In

My friends know I’m really, really good for the check-in. A call or an email, even a postcard may come from me, often the call comes in the morning after kids are school bound and while I make my way home on foot. I have a very old flip phone I refuse to give up, so while I now send texts, my texts are a labor of keypad-pushing love. Mine are the Morse code of texts.

Anyway, checking in on the blog—hello, hello. I enjoyed putting together my Summer Wish List. Worry not readers, I have no intention of a summer race to check off as many items as possible on the list. The spirit is more to share many ideas and for me personally to see that some will happen and some won’t but have a placeholder—in this case, a blog post—to remember. That said I made it to the Ezra Jack Keats’ show at the Carle Museum and nearly wept it was so beautiful and so moving—Langston Hughes’ note to EJK?

I did run over the weekend and I continued the jamming ritual (obsession?). No running photo, but I snuck one, self-portrait with my friend as we worked together post-run (mine, not hers; she left me to go to the gym later on) while our little girls played. I snapped a self-portrait later that day at the blueberry haven (beginning of post). I also got to photograph two new adorable babies (and their gorgeous mums).

**

Since I write this on the morning of July Fourth, I have to add that even though it may fall shorter than our ideals or our needs, the Supreme Court last week surprised me in a good way. Single payer healthcare is so obviously what’s required. Any progress in that direction beats a slide the other way. As for a word to chew on—or two—as patriotic, I’d toss access and equality into the ring. Those words apply to health care, education, the Internet, voting, clean air, fresh food, and on, take your pick.

Author: Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser

Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser's work has appeared on the New York Times, Salon, and the Manifest Station amongst other places. Find her on Twitter @standshadows